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How antivirus software works Antivirus software looks at the data—web pages, files, software, applications—traveling over the network to your devices. It searches for known threats and red-flags behavior to block or remove malware as quickly as possible. What is malware? Malware (short for malicious software) is a program specifically engineered to compromise the security features on your computer or mobile device to give cybercriminals access to your personal data and, in some cases, commit identify theft.
Meet the All-New Norton Security Deluxe – All the Features of Norton AntiVirus for Mac and More! To better protect you, we have substantially enhanced our security services: We took everything you loved about Norton AntiVirus for Mac, and added better protection. May 15, 2017 - The question of whether Macs need antivirus is not a new one, but the answer is. And Fortune has warned of Mac malware that can freeze Apple computers. Is BitDefender Antivirus and the number two is Norton Antivirus.
Malware sneaks in through a hole in one of your software programs, hidden in an online ad or disguised as a legitimate app you download. Most of the time, the presence of malware will be obvious even though you might not know how it got on your device. In fact, most people have no idea that malware has been installed until their computers start acting funny. Computer security almost always begins with anti-virus/malware software. While this advice may be obvious to some, many home computers don’t have proper security software installed.
Make this a priority on your home computer; it’s the best thing you can to do to avoid malware. With public Wi-Fi available everywhere, what seems like a convenience can actually put you at risk. Free public Wi-Fi is a hacker’s playground for stealing personal information. One of the dangers of using a public Wi-Fi network is that data over this type of open connection is often unencrypted and unsecured, leaving you vulnerable to a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack. Another risk of using free public Wi-Fi is that you may be connecting via a rogue hotspot.
Once a victim connects to the rogue Wi-Fi hotspot, the host hacker can then intercept data and even use tools to inject malware into the connected devices. “IoT” is an acronym for the “Internet of Things.” And any device that can connect to the Internet and transmit or receive data can be considered a “smart” thing. That includes smart homes, also known as connected homes.
Smart homes — in which IoT devices such as thermostats or ovens can be programmed from anywhere — are popular with consumers who seek convenience. Some people, however, may not realize the connected devices or appliances they’ve grown to depend on could leak private information or be susceptible to hackers. In the rush to get products to market, smart device makers may not see security as a priority. 2 Virus Protection Promise: To be eligible for the Virus Protection Promise, you must have a qualifying Norton subscription and unless you have Norton Small Business, you must also have purchased, renewed or upgraded that Norton subscription directly from Symantec, or activate automatic renewal with Symantec. If a Norton expert is unable to remove the virus from your device, then you may receive a refund based on the actual price paid for the current term of your qualifying Norton subscription. If you purchase a Norton bundle (a qualifying Norton subscription purchased with another Norton offering), your refund will be limited to the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of your qualifying Norton subscription for the current term, not to exceed the total bundled price paid. Or, if your bundled purchase contains a qualifying Norton subscription with a non-Norton product, your refund will be limited to the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of only your Norton qualifying subscription for the current term, not to exceed the total bundled price paid.
Any refund will be net of any discounts or refunds received and less any shipping, handling and applicable taxes, except in certain states and countries where shipping, handling and taxes are refundable. The refund does not apply to any damages incurred as a result of viruses. See for details including qualifying Norton subscriptions.
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Norton Antivirus? I don't see much need for it providing you take some common-sense precautions, mostly not downloading things from places you aren't certain are trustworthy, not entering in your administrator password to requests to install something when it's not an application you are deliberately and knowingly installing, and not opening attachments to unexpected emails.
But having Norton Antivirus installed probably won't hurt much, though it can be a bit of a drain on performance of your system and may cause complications for installing programs. Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to install Norton Utilities.
I doubt it would even install on Snow Leopard, but don't risk it. Norton Utilities would damage your OS, guaranteed. Gentlemen, the blanket condemnation of Norton Antivirus falls under what I'd consider to be 'urban legend'. People have over time conflated the problems with Norton Utilities, which were very real, to unfairly tar Norton Antivirus with the same brush. I ran, and supported, Norton Antivirus on a number of Macs and never had a problem, though again I consider it unnecessary. If you can point to concrete information that shows that Norton Antivirus is indeed chronically problematical (beyond just the normal sort of interference any antivirus can cause), I would welcome seeing it and will publicly state that I'm wrong and that your advice to avoid NAV is well taken. But again, that's not been my experience.
We've had far more problems with Sophos or McAfee. I've never run it except in the old Performa days (I think it was Norton) and then the system was crashing so frequently anyway, you never could tell what was responsible.
I've always accepted what I've heard about Norton being a destroyer of Macs, but somewhere in the back of my mind I always wondered how it could be possible Symantec wouldn't respond by cleaning up its act, at least with the newer releases, since it was getting such a bad rep. I have heard the enterprise version of Symantic - not sure what it's called - is problem free. I would assume you wont' get a straight answer here, or a straight answer directly from the horse's mouth, but you might want to at least check the Symantec Community. You can (should) make a backup (bootable clone) of your system if you want to test new software. Then use it just on the clone, or put the backup off line while you try it out.
Reviews tend to be overly positive (don't want to anger the vendor, your relationship) was done with a Preview copy, or on a well maintained system, not yours, while most feedback is from disgruntled people, meaning the person on Amazon etc that had trouble with the install and perhaps other problems. Security suites can be annoying if nothing else, telling you they are doing XYZ (update, scanning, locking PSWD MGR). All have made strides to be lighter on system resources and not interfere with other operations (downloads, system, other foreground and background tasks). Sophos, Kaspersky, BitDefender, Intego also have Mac products and offer 30-day fully functional demo.
And there is ClamXav. IT departments can of course mandate the use of AV/Security Suites, even if they are a 'Mac shop' and thankfully proactive and ready to limit a problem should it arise (rather than wait for disaster and then deal with it). Apple Footer. This site contains user submitted content, comments and opinions and is for informational purposes only. Apple may provide or recommend responses as a possible solution based on the information provided; every potential issue may involve several factors not detailed in the conversations captured in an electronic forum and Apple can therefore provide no guarantee as to the efficacy of any proposed solutions on the community forums.
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